Torrie Gass Archives • Get Messy

Lesson 6 – Unconventional Marks + Tools

Some of my favourite unconventional mark making tools I use in my journals.

Lesson 7 – How to Layer Marks

How to successfully layer different types of marks without causing chaos or muddying up your pages.

In this bonus lesson, we will create an art journal page transforming a found image with marks! This is a great technique to practice creating marks but also makes for a really lovely art journal page!

Welcome to Messy Marks

Welcome to the class!

Lesson 1 – Mark Making Warm Ups

3 different warm up exercises designed to help you loosen up and also connect internally with your marks.

Lesson 2 – Scribbles

Ah, scribbles, the most instinctive of all the marks to make! I use scribbling heavily in my work because to me it’s an open ended expression and can easily be modified to reflect my emotions. You can use scribbles in so many ways to build backgrounds, create color blocks and add more expressive details.

Lesson 3 – Dots + Dashes

Creating organic patterns with dots and dashes, altering images, and sippling.

Lesson 4 – Lines, Lines, Lines

Lines can be utilized in many different ways to create visual interest in your artwork. Lines can be used as a graphic element to create drama, help draw the viewers eye across the page to a point of interest, create backgrounds with controlled line work and more.

Lesson 5 – Simple Shapes

Often we see shapes as separate from the idea of mark making, but shapes are comprised of marks to create them. We use marks to build the shapes we want to see. Shapes can be used to portray all kinds of expression and emotion to a page.

Messy Marks

Mark making can be an instinctive and natural way to add more layers and interest to your art. In Messy Marks, you’ll learn how to create interesting and vibrant marks in your art journal with a variety of tools and techniques. Instructor Torrie Lynn will show you how to expand your idea of mark making and rely on your intuition to create them. She will overview different types of marks, how to embrace your intuition, and how to layer marks in a cohesive way. You will create beautiful layers of details with various supplies such as paint, markers, pens, and unconventional supplies. Elevate your art journaling to the next level with details, layers, and marks with your intuition as a guide in Messy Marks.

Create 5 easy grunge backgrounds in your art journal

In this post I’ll be sharing 5 easy ways to create grungy, gritty and textured backgrounds in your art journals. A lot of my own art journal pages start out with these techniques, because I love that raw, messy texture they can create. These backgrounds techniques can...